As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Wednesday, June 15th, 2011.

Apple’s Back To School Promo: $100 Gift Card For Apps And Media
There were the days, when the Apple back to school promotion was an actual iPod touch. Not some namby-pamby coupon for Twitters and Angry Birds Neo or whatever it is you kids are buying! But that was long ago. Apple has no need to seed its hardware via giveaways like that now; so just be happy with your $100 gift card good at any online Apple marketplace.
CrunchGear

Koodo Mobile Officially Releases The iPhone 4
Koodo Mobile has released the iPhone 4. Certainly a step up in class for their devices as this joins the Nexus S as one of their flagship phones. As expected, you can get the iPhone 4 on the Tab for $500, or on a newly created three-year contract for $160. Koodo does make a note that “If you decide to cancel before then, you simply have to pay the remaining balance on the discount you received on the purchase of your iPhone.”
MobileSyrup

HTC’s ChaCha Shuffles Its Way Through The FCC’s Clutches
HTC’s ChaCha was officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress this year with a 600MHz CPU — that’s been bumped to 800MHz since we first saw it — a very winsome and useful QWERTY keypad, a cute little dedicated Facebook button, and of course AT&T 3G bands are now on tap. Sadly, while the FCC does reveal test results, interesting photos of labs studded with foam cones, and even device sticker placement, they don’t tell us when a device will launch or what it’ll ultimately cost.
Engadget

Exclusive: Google Nexus 4G Detailed – 720p Display, 4G LTE, Android 4.0
The Google Nexus 4G will feature a next-generation dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz CPU, and contrary to reports about it featuring an NVIDIA Kal-El processor, our source indicates it’s most likely an OMAP 4460 or a, ultra low-power 28nm Krait-based Snapdragon. The display is said to be a 720p HD “monster-sized” screen, and it won’t feature physical Android menu buttons below the screen anymore — everything will be software-based.
BGR

Lawmakers Propose Mobile Data Privacy Law
Senators Al Franken and Richard Blumenthal today introduced a new bill called the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011. The aim of the legislation is to protect the privacy of mobile phone users, especially with respect to location data. The bill would require phone manufacturers and app developers “to receive express consent” from end users “before collecting or sharing information about those users’ location with third parties.”
Phone Scoop

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (June 15, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Monday, June 13th, 2011.

Apple Starts Selling Unlocked iPhone 4 For $649
Not that it’ll do you much good in the US — an unlocked iPhone 4 will still only work on AT&T’s 3G bands — but Apple has just started selling its prized smartphone without any carrier partiality on its US online store. The big attraction is, of course, being able to take the phone abroad and switch MicroSIMs to your heart’s content, an experience that most other nations are already well accustomed to. Additionally, though the $649 (16GB) and $749 (32GB) levies may seem rather steep for American buyers, they’re quite a bit more affordable than the unlocked pricing elsewhere.
Engadget

Nokia And Apple Settle Patent Row
Nokia and Apple have settled a long-running patent dispute, with the US company agreeing to make a one-off payment and continuing royalties to the struggling Finnish phone maker. But the end of the row could now mean that phones using Google’s Android software will come under fire from Nokia over the same set of patents it has just licensed, suggests one observer.
Guardian

“Recycle My Cell” Program Comes To Alberta
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and its “Recycle My Cell” program has come to Alberta. If you want to recycle your old clunker of a cell phone there are now 574 drop off location spots in 78 communities across Alberta. Currently 15% of Alberta residents recycle their old cell, but this number is expected to increase to 37% by 2015.
MobileSyrup

iCloud Communications Sues Apple Over ‘iCloud’ Trademark
A firm named iCloud Communications has filed a lawsuit against Apple over its “iCloud” trademark. Apple announced the new cloud storage and sync service dubbed iCloud during its WWDC keynote last week, and iCloud Communications now wants the Cupertino-based tech giant to get rid of “all labels, signs, prints, insignia, letterhead, brochures, business cards, invoices and any other written or recorded material or advertisements” referring to the service. iCloud Communications said that Apple consistently uses trademarks owned by others, and references other legal battles over trademarks for the iPhone, iAd, Mighty Mouse, iPad, and even the name Apple itself.
BGR

iOS 5′s Fancy New Camera Trick? Microsoft Has A Patent On It
Pretty much immediately after the new camera tricks were demonstrated, people began noting similarities between iOS 5′s new focal features and some of those found in Windows Phone 7. As it turns out, Apple may have to cough up some cash (or possibly already is) for at least one of those cool new capabilities; Microsoft has held a patent on the mimicked feature since February of 2010.
MobileCrunch

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (June 13, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Thursday, June 9th, 2011.

SaskTel Extends 4G Coverage To 15 New Locations
Quick update regarding SaskTel’s continued “4G” wireless coverage. They sent out a message that it’s been expanded to 15 more areas and now covers over 98% of the population in Saskatchewan. In addition, 42Mbps speeds will be coming to Regina and Saskatoon “by this summer”.
MobileSyrup

Virgin Mobile Welcomes 4.1-inch Motorola Triumph
Fear not, pay-as-you-go fans — Virgin Mobile saw a hat tip of its own at today’s Sprint / Motorola event in the form of the Triumph, a 4.1-inch Android 2.2 handset that perhaps doesn’t quite live up to it’s hyperbolic name. Virgin Mobile’s first-ever Motorola handset has 2GB of built-in storage, 512MB of RAM, a five megapixel camera, WVGA display, 1400mAh battery, A-GPS, WiFi, a Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU and HDMI output.
Engadget

Sprint And Motorola Announce The Dual-Core, Kickstand-Packin’ Photon 4G
Sometime in Q3 of this year, Motorola and Sprint will be launching a phone worthy of its weight in PVC and carbon emissions: the Photon 4G. The handset packs a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in memory, and pre-installed Gingerbread. All in all, that’s one fine piece of kit. No word yet on pricing and nothing beyond “Sometime in Q3″ for a launch date.
MobileCrunch

Apple iCloud Brings Previously Purchased Apps Back From The Dead
Lamenting the time you restored your iPhone and lost that beloved VLC app because it’s no longer available on the App Store? Cheer up, there’s an iCloud for that. The service allows you to re-download any app you’ve previously purchased on any of your iOS devices — including killed apps. So if you were one of the four people that downloaded I am Rich before it was killed, you’ll be sure to enjoy that $1,000 investment for years to come.
Engadget

Microsoft Releases Android To Windows Phone Porting Tool
As promised back in April, Microsoft has today released an Android to Windows Phone API mapping tool for developers which will help developers port existing Android applications to the Windows Phone platform. Like its iPhone counterpart, the tool doesn’t actually port your code for you automatically. Instead, what it provides is a list of API mappings that acts like a translation dictionary from one platform to the next.
ReadWriteWeb

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (June 9, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Tuesday, June 7th, 2011.

iOS 5 Jailbroken
Turns out the folks over at the iPhone Dev Team didn’t waste any time after Apple released the developer version of iOS 5 yesterday – as you can see, iOS 5 has been jailbroken. Apparently, Apple hasn’t done much by way of patching up those holes that were used to jailbreak iOS devices.
MobileCrunch

RIM Acquires Scoreloop To Make BlackBerry Games More Social
Research in Motion (RIM) has acquired social gaming company Scoreloop, which helps mobile game developers add social and in-app billing features to their games. Hopefully RIM and Scoreloop have been in discussions long enough to already have some of the platform aspects in the works. The promise of the BlackBerry PlayBook grows dimmer each day, as Android and iOS continue to evolve and Microsoft ups its game with Windows Phone.
Mashable

Redesigned Motorola DROID BIONIC Pictures Surface
Motorola took the wraps off of the DROID BIONIC back during CES 2011, shortly thereafter announced that it had delayed the device until summer. Now, the first shots of the newly redesigned DROID BIONIC are beginning to surface. The images show the device has — what appears to be — a new version of Motorola’s MOTOBLUR user interface. We assume most of the other specs remain the same.
BGR

Walmart Temporarily Drops iPhone 4 Price To $147, Not That You’ll Be Able To Find One
Someone tell Walmart Black Friday isn’t for another five and a half months. With no new iPhone in sight, the retailer is selling the 16GB version for $147 on contract — the kind of stunt we’d expect it to pull in an effort to reel in holiday shoppers. The sale, which applies to AT&T and Verizon models, lasts until June 30, and only an unspecified number of “select” stores will even be participating. No word on how many discounted phones Walmart has to shill, but both the black and white versions are sold out online, which doesn’t exactly bode well for your chances of scoring one in person.
Engadget

Poll: Which Canadian Carrier Has The Best Customer Service?
Let’s dig a bid deeper to see what happens after the carrier takes your hard earned money. Whether it’s in person, on the phone or online having great a service experience is key to keeping your customers. There are those times that you feel you’re treated unfairly and everything falls apart. Each carrier thinks they offer the best service and to entice you to make the “switch” many offer a port-in credit with all sorts of member discounts to keep happy. Other carriers just say thanks with a warm smile and reward your business with free 6PM evenings.
MobileSyrup

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (June 7, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Monday, June 6th, 2011.

VIDEO: Motorola Droid 3 / Milestone 3 In Action
The only official details the videos give out are that the Motorola Droid 3 will be packing both a HDMI-out and a micro-USB port, as well as an 8-megapixel camera with an LED flash and Full 1080p HD video shooting. Other purported specs include a 4-inch qHD display, a 1GHz OMAP 4430 CPU, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and a front facing camera too.
Pocket-lint

HTC Sales In May Reached $1.42 Billion, More Than Double Last Year’s Total
Taiwan’s premier smartphone maker has once again blown away its performance from the previous year, having informed the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it tallied up T$40.62b ($1.42b) in consolidated sales for May 2011. That’s a neat chunk of change more than April’s T$38.73b and it also comfortably dwarfs last year’s May total of T$18.82b ($656m). There’s no breakdown of what devices are to credit for HTC’s ever-ascending revenues, but if you ask us, its future prosperity looks pretty good with the Sensation, EVO 3D, and a few tablet-shaped things lurking on the horizon.
Engadget

Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS
As one of the core new features highlighted today in iOS 5, iMessages has one purpose: to kill SMS. That is, traditional carrier-controlled text messages. iMessages will do this by replacing SMS with a service that Apple is in control of across all of their iOS devices. And here’s the real death blow: iMessages will be completely free.
TechCrunch

Apple iCloud Announced For Free, Replaces MobileMe
Steve Jobs took the stage at WWDC 2011 to talk about Apple’s iCloud service: “Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy,” Jobs said as he prepared to introduce the major new service. “We’ve got a great solution to this problem. We’re going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device. We’re going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.” iCloud will store all of your content and automatically push it to all of your devices. It’s integrated with all of your apps, and everything is seamless. MobileMe is out, and iCloud is going to be free — amazing!
BGR

Europe And Japan Collaborate To Develop World’s Most Efficient Photovoltaic Cell
The aim is to reach the world’s highest photoelectric conversion efficiency of at least 45%. The project is expected to cost $15.5 million, with the Japanese side shouldering $8.1 of that sum. Participants from Japan include big names such as Toyota, Sharp, and the University of Tokyo. From Europe, organizations from five different countries (Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, and France) will be contributing.
CrunchGear

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (June 6, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Tuesday, May 31th, 2011.

Apple To Unveil iCloud, iOS 5 On Monday, June 6
Had some doubts that Apple was heading skyward? Apple has confirmed that it will be announcing iCloud on June 6th, what it’s calling an “upcoming cloud services offering.” That will be part of the keynote for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, known to the cool kids as WWDC. This is, of course, where everyone has come to expect new iPhones to come to light, but this year we’re thinking the focus will be more on software, and indeed Apple’s event notice indicates that the big highlights will be Mac OS X Lion and the next version of its mobile operating system, iOS 5.
Engadget

Apparently Canadians Are Jumping All Over That New-fangled Smartphone Thing
This is according to a new survey from Ipsos Reid where they are reporting that 31% of Canadians now own a smartphone, which is a jump of more that 50% over last year. Not only are more of us owning the things but we’re doing more things on them than we ever have in the past. “For several years, smartphone growth was incremental at best, but in 2011, it’s been exponential” says Steve Mossop, President with Ipsos Reid’s Western Canada practice.
Inquisitr

TDK Shows Off Transparent Bistable OLED Mobile Display
The transparent display wars are yet to begin, since everyone is still prepping their devices, but that doesn’t stop the big guys like TDK and Samsung from throwing a little PR party every once in a while to let you know they’re still on the task. Today TDK released info on a new display, the UEL476, that’s a bit different from the rest. It’s too small for most consumer devices, and AMOLED is more than likely the next generation of small displays. But TDK is a big company and this is just the tip of the iceberg — a photo-ready version of something that has a dozen other variants.
CrunchGear

Apple iWork Now Available For iPhone And iPod Touch
Apple on Tuesday officially announced that its iWork productivity applications, including Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, are now available for the iPhone and iPod touch. Apple has completely redesigned the applications to take advantage of iOS’s multitouch features. “Now you can use Keynote, Pages, and Numbers on iPhone and iPod touch to create amazing presentations, documents, and spreadsheets right in the palm of your hand,” Philip Shiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said.
BGR

Android Users Now The Biggest Data Hogs [STATS]
The Nielsen Company has released the details from its latest mobile survey, which reveals that Android not only leads in U.S. marketshare, it also dominates when it comes to data usage. The survey, which was carried out in April 2011, indicates that Android now makes up 36% of the smartphone market. That’s a whopping 10% lead over Apple and a 13% lead over RIM. Android has been leading the U.S. mobile marketshare for several months now, its lead widening since Nielsen first reported Android’s dominance in March 2011.
Mashable

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (May 31, 2011)

As reported here on Cell Phones Etc. and across the Web, here’s your daily brief on what happened in the world of mobile phones this Monday, May 30th, 2011.

Poll: Which Canadian Carrier Has The Best Monthly Plan?
There is a flip side to just offering great devices. Monthly plans are the other key component. Over the past year since the new entrants came storming in they offered low cost monthly plans that included unlimited talk, text and data. Other carriers slightly joined in – but in various provinces. This new poll we are asking based on your viewpoint “Which Canadian carrier has the best monthly plan?”
MobileSyrup

Unnamed HTC WP7 Smartphone Has A 12-Megapixel Camera
Are you one of those folks who like the idea of a smartphone camera, but think they still have ways to go before they can replace even a simple point-and-click standalone camera? An upcoming, unnamed smartphone from HTC might change your mind. A 12-megapixel camera in a smartphone is not unheard of – Nokia N8 has one – but it’s definitely a first in the world of Windows Phone 7 devices.
Mashable

ASUS Targets Christmas For Padfone Launch, Hints At Ice Cream Sandwich
The smartphone is actually the only smart aspect of this hardware pair — the slate part acts as a display, a set of speakers, an extended battery, and an I/O extender, but it doesn’t work by itself. ASUS also tells us there’ll be other functionality enabled by the tablet panel, but that’s being kept under wraps for now. It’s still a mere mockup for now, but ASUS has big plans for it — plans that coalesce around the Christmas period and the very latest version of Android at that time.
Engadget

Samsung: 1 Million Galaxy S II Units Sold
Samsung announced on Monday that it has sold more than 1 million of its new Galaxy S II handsets, and that the phone has been “selling like [hotcakes].” The Korean company said the time it took for sales to pass the 1 million milestone was the fastest of any device it has sold, and that the Galaxy S II beat the Galaxy S to that sales figure by 40 days. The Galaxy S II made its debut on April 29th, and we’re not surprised that Samsung has managed to sell one every three seconds — when we reviewed the Galaxy S II earlier this month we called it the “greatest Android smartphone available on the planet.”
BGR

TransPhone Pairs Tablet And Handset, Emerged Before ASUS Padfone
While ASUS’ Padfone was being launched with much sticker-clad-model fanfare at Computex today, CMIT’s TransPhone was apparently enjoying its third day of life, having first appeared on the web as early as Saturday. Both tablets include built-in docks with smartphones to match, but are otherwise unique in appearance and features. The TransPhone includes a bluetooth headset and a slide-in smartphone dock, while the Padfone’s handset is completely hidden by a flip-up rear door.
Engadget

This is a post from Cell Phones Etc. entitled:
Today’s Mobile News in Brief (May 30, 2011)